Eleanora [Harry Styles AU]

[14] No Regrets

I awoke to pigeons cooing, mixed with footsteps and the sound of an opening door. Predicting it was just Eleanora, waking up to go to the bathroom or kitchen, I let my eyes droop back shut and pulled the blankets further up my body, trying to fall back to sleep. But my elbow hit something as I readjusted the duvet, something which could only be a sleeping figure, confirming that no, it wasn’t Eleanora who was stomping around the flat, but somebody entirely different.

            I sat up in haste, surprised that my reflexes were still intact this early in the day. Blinking away the haziness, my eyes landed on a figure, its back turned to me as it closed the flat’s front door. It was a girl, sporting the same golden hair as the one lying beside me, except shorter.

            Furrowing my brow, my hand moved quickly to alert Eleanora of this person’s entrance, but I stopped it when realisation suddenly hit.

            This was Eleanora’s sister, back from Croatia for whatever reason. And we were in her flat. Probably without her permission.

            I watched with wide eyes, too surprised to even move, as her sister shut the door behind her, deposited her keys into the small bag she was carrying and looked up. Her face was square shaped and her eyes were small and hazel coloured, but despite their differences you could tell that Eleanora and Lucille – I think was her name – were closely related. Her gaze settled on me and the lying girl behind me, both of us sprawled out on her bed. Gradually, the realisation began to settle behind her eyes, and by the time Eleanora had awakened, only seconds later due to the rattling of the door knob earlier, Lucille’s mouth was gaping open in disbelief.

            “What the hell is this?!” she shrieked, voice high enough to startle the both of us and make Eleanora fumble out of bed.

            “Luce—“ she began to plead.

            “I get a call from mother, saying that you’ve disappeared from summer camp, begging for me to come back to England so I can help look for you, and this is how I find you?! In my bed with a boy!”

            “We didn’t do anything, I swear. He just needed a place to stay—“

            “Mother and father are worried sick!” Lucille spat.

            “I find that hard to believe,” Eleanora muttered under her breath, and Lucille promptly chose to ignore it.

            All the while my head was crossing between the two sisters as if I was watching a tennis match. They acted like I wasn’t even there, and I was strangely grateful for that.

            “You’re supposed to be at summer camp!” Lucille bellowed at the younger girl.

            “Damn,” she muttered to herself “I knew that camp counsellor was a snitch.”

            “Are you even listening to me?! This is the last time you pull another stunt like this. I’m taking you home to mum and dad. Right now. And I’m going to tell them all about this.” She promised, gesturing towards Eleanora and I, as if what we did last night was more than just kiss once or twice.  

            Eleanora started to object, but Lucille was quick to silence her by clamping a hand around her mouth and leading her towards the door of the flat, pushing the door open and stumbling out.

            Are they just gonna leave me here, I thought as the flat became empty. I slid out of bed, noticing that I was only in my boxers and t-shirt. That was probably why Lucille thought that last night’s interactions between Eleanora and I were less than innocent. I located my pair of jeans and pulled them over my legs, found my shoes and slipped them on, and finished off by shrugging on my jacket. I followed quickly after the pair, worried that a fight would break out from the way Lucille was handling her younger sister.

            I found them at the street kerb outside, Lucille’s hand no longer covering Eleanora’s mouth – probably in fear that someone would see it and raise some questions. There was an expensive car parked out front – an Audi, by the looks of it, and Lucille was pushing her sister towards it, trying to force the small girl into the passenger seat.

            Eleanora caught sight of me at the doorway and spoke. As she struggled against her sister’s tight grip.

            “Do you have a way of getting home?”

            I was a little taken aback by her question as I hadn’t even considered that, had been too shocked by this morning’s wake up call to think of anything else but the fact that Eleanora was being taken away from me.

            “I’ll just call my mum or something. Maybe get a train.” I told her, not knowing if I was being serious or not.

            “I’m sorry,” was the last thing she said before Lucille closed the door on her, stomping over to the driver’s side.

            “It’s fine,” I mumbled to myself, knowing fully well that she couldn’t hear me, as I watched the Audi’s engine roar to life before speeding off.

            So that was it.

*                                                        *                                                          *

In many ways, Eleanora was a self-centred bitch. I knew that; had always known that. And it seemed as if her family knew too.

            But there was more to her than that. She wasn’t just some rebellious girl from a rich family, escaping a camp for ‘troubled’ kids for the umpteenth time. No, Eleanora was different; special. And there was something, in that short week which we’d been together, which she’d taught me. Something which I would’ve never learned if I’d be back taking my GCSEs.

            She’d taught me what adventure was, taught me to break away from the norm, to live and experience and do things for the hell of it, not because you have to. She taught me that adventure is everywhere, hiding behind every corner. You don’t have to go out on a big quest to find it. All you have to do is take a chance on something, or somebody, and it’ll find you.

            For me, it was that night in Brighton when I’d chased after her. Back then, I was unaware of all the adventures which were yet to come, of all the things I’d do which would excite me yet scare the crap out of me at the same time.

            I don’t regret it.

            I think of her sometimes; imagine her in that posh house in Manchester, with her feisty sister and wealthy parents. And I wonder if I taught her anything, wonder if she thinks about me too.

            I hope she doesn’t regret it either.

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A/N: last chapter woooo

i know it was a bad ending but the epilogue is coming and that's going to end really well, I think. So, yeah.

Bye! xx